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Reply With QuoteI asked this very thing in earlier post. I have tried steam but not much use. I did see online a guy ironing feathers. They will work fine when wet and in the water but visually it disturbs me and causes restless night and nightmares!
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Straightening twisted hackle
Anyone know of a good way to straighten hackle that has some twist in it?
I have thought about trying to steam it but not sure if I would need to press it between paper towel or something similar while it is drying.
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I asked this very thing in earlier post. I have tried steam but not much use. I did see online a guy ironing feathers. They will work fine when wet and in the water but visually it disturbs me and causes restless night and nightmares!
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I’ve never figured out how to straighten them up. I’ll be watching this post to see. I’m sure someone knows how to.
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Good question. I'm sure somebody has a remedy for us. I've just been doing the best i can with mine but it is annoying.
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Heat can be used to straighten the feather quill. Heat a standard household iron to the cotton setting, do not use steam. Lay a cotton cloth on a firm ironing surface and lay the feather on the cloth with the underside of the feather up. Run the pre-heated iron over the length of the feather several times, taking care not to stop on the feather surface. After three or four passes with the iron, flip the feather over and continue to iron the feather moving slower over the thickest part of the quill while pulling up on the feather against the natural front to back curve. Continue this process until the feather lies flat. After allowing the feather to cool for 2 to 3 seconds, bend it again, opposite to its right or left natural curve until the feather is straight. Be careful to not use too much pressure as this can fracture the quill. Once you have the feather quill straightened, store the feather under a flat weight overnight. Storing the feather between two smooth boards will usually do the trick.
Note: As individual irons heat differently, you may need to experiment with your iron to test which heat setting works best and how many passes with the iron is necessary.
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Man that seems like it would take some time if your tying a lot of jigs
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I just cut the tip as best I can to keep that as straight as I can and the rest makes no difference since I am cutting the stem into 1/4" or a little larger to make the V's.
If that really bothers you that much just tie the tail like the original Gray Ghost that had no tip at all, just the V's.
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Tying Materials, Chenille and Hackle
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Yeah I haven't done any of this. Just to much work. I did try using steam but that didn't work or not the way I did it anyway.
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And be completely useless for anything other than a pretty picture.Originally Posted by Mike1234
I know I know, I fall victim to “purty” jigs too.
But I’ll be darned if I break out an iron for anything other than a grill cheese sammich.
The best looking jig tails are the ones buried in a sacs mouth.
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